Ravnica: City of Guilds

[Bone2pick]

Ravnica is a vast, worldwide cityscape—a patchwork of grand halls, decrepit slums, ancient ruins, and layer upon layer of stonework structures. Of the world's countless civic centers, one looms large above all others: the City of Ravnica, a metropolis so vast that its name has long since become synonymous with the entire plane. It is here, amid mazes of streets and towering gothic spires, that Ravnica's guilds vie for power and control.


Ravnica's guilds had been openly at war for centuries, each claiming dominion over the others. Then something began to happen that gave the guilds pause: The spirits of the dead were lingering in the world. The guild masters of old agreed to divert their energy toward investigating the phenomenon, leading to the signing of the Guildpact, the ancient accord that established relative peace on the plane.


Each of the ten guilds mastered two of the five colors of mana, and each had its own cultural identity and essential function.

This Roleplay

Players will select a guild to "control" from the infamous Magic the Gathering world of Ravnica. However, the main characters that the players will create will not be the Guild's leaders, and preferebly, not even the guild's second in command. Rather, they will create an original guild lieutenant who will share their perspectives of the major ongoings occurring inside the city of Ravnica. This will allow the guild leaders to act as political overseers while our characters brave the dangerous city streets. It will also allow our characters to form inter-guild alliances even if our sworn guilds are on "unfriendly" terms.

Spoiler

Boros (red-white): The Boros Legion believed in a higher law—one in which righteousness is fire, and justice the light that shines from it. Led by the angel Razia, the Boros were Ravnica's most formidable military force, and the enforcers of its laws.


Selesnya (green-white): "Once you are with us, you are an equal among us. Until then, you are lost," said the wolfrider evangel Tolsimir, an agent of the Selesnya Conclave. The Conclave thought itself a selfless, nurturing, spiritual congregation, but others regarded it as a brainwashing nature cult.


Golgari (black-green): The Golgari believed you can't truly live until you die. With its vast horde of undead that served as both standing army and labor force, the Golgari operated in Ravnica's undercity, slowly taking over abandoned and derelict areas like a fetid slime mold.


Dimir (blue-black): House Dimir was so secretive that only some knew that it even existed. Over the millennia, ghost stories about the Dimir grew more and more complex, telling of ancient, undead necromancer-advisors, phantasmal assassins, and slick, black horrors slithering through the endless maze of sewers under the city.


Orzhov (white-black): To find the Orzhov, the saying went, follow the gold. The so-called Guild of Deals was a rigid hierarchy with the wealthy ghost-patriarchs ruling from the top and countless indentured servants forming the base. Holding this fragile social order in place was a veneer of religious pomp and ritual, though few believed the Orzhov worship any god other than coin.


Gruul (red-green): The Gruul Clans celebrated base urges and lived by instinct, considering all of civilization to be an elaborate cage that suppresses desire. Once a powerful guild, the Gruul were an assemblage of beggars, gangs, and raiding parties, with the largest of their gangs led by the cyclops Borborygmos.


Izzet (blue-red): The undisputed masters of spellcraft and invention on Ravnica, the Izzet were rabid inventors, fusing elemental magics with technology to power their creations. Led by the capricious and unfathomably brilliant dragon Niv-Mizzet, the Izzet magewrights endlessly created and destroyed, driven only by rabid passion for discovery.


Azorius (white-blue): The Azorius Senate was the primary origin of all laws on Ravnica. The Azorius believed that their rigid system of governance kept nearly everything on Ravnica running smoothly. Justice is blind, and that included the guild's venerable Grand Arbiter, Augustin IV, who some say was blind to Ravnica's most significant problems.


Rakdos (black-red): The Cult of Rakdos was a thrill-killing, pleasure-seeking cabal led by the ancient demon Rakdos. Even as a force of chaos, the Rakdos were a resource for the law-abiding guilds; when the denizens of Ravnica needed an obstacle removed or an unsavory client entertained, the minions of Rakdos were happy to oblige.


Simic (green-blue): Amidst the chaos of Ravnican politics and strife, the researchers of the Simic Combine worked industriously to improve their world. The Simic were charged with maintaining nature on Ravnica. In ever stranger ways, the Simic "modified" nature so it could survive on a world increasingly blanketed under civilization.

 

[Idea]

Gimme Izzet or Dimmir and I`m game!

 

[Bone2pick]

Excellent. I've seen you around the forums and figured we'd meetup in an RP eventually. (^.^)


I'll be representing Orzhov.

 

[Idea]

Excellent. I've seen you around the forums and figured we'd meetup in an RP eventually. (^.^)
I'll be representing Orzhov.

Good to hear and pleasure to work with you.

 

[Sullivanity]

I've been looking for an RP that actually allowed me to be a dark antihero soaked in the vile black taint of debauchery, and gosh golly the guys and gals over at a Rakdos seem like the kind of swell pals that just might do that! Count me in!

 

[Bone2pick]

@Sullivanity You've been counted in. ( )

Spoiler

Even miles away, if you put your ear to the sewer vents, you can hear the screams and the tempestuous laughter. On The Dungeons Below Rix Maadi

Rakdos Guildmage





Rix Maadi Guildhall





Thrill-Kill Assassin

 

[pbtenchi]

Um, is this taking place before present ravnica? Because the city spans the entire plane. And the reason the spirits stayed was because of a aether barrier made by Azor I, the founder of Azorius to keep planeswalkers out..

 

[Bone2pick]

@pbtenchi Keep in mind, this is a mere interest check: the purpose of which is to showcase some of the setting, possible conflicts, and the kinds of characters players would create. Obviously, I'll expand more on the state of Ravnica if and when the roleplay launches.


Everything above, with the exception of what's inside the fieldset, was copy and pasted from this site: RAVNICA

 

[pbtenchi]

Huh. That site needs re-wording as I know for a fact isn't strictly accurate.


And please don't talk to me like that, I hate being talked to like that, you sound like a robot

 

[Bone2pick]

And please don't talk to me like that, I hate being talked to like that, you sound like a robot

Unhelpful and unappreciated. Goodbye.

 

[pbtenchi]

Sorry.

 

[gogojojo331]

Smic or Rakados sound cool

 

[Idea]

Smic or Rakados sound cool

Rakdos was actually taken by Sullivanity, so I guess you`ll be going for Simic.

 

[gogojojo331]

cool

 

[theunderwolf]

Can I take izzet please?

 

[Bone2pick]

As to who gets what guild, if there are two or more players who really want one particular guild, then that guild will be awarded by me based on character sheet quality. I doubt this will happen often, but it does give everyone a shot to take the reigns of whatever group desire.


Here's some concept art. ( )

Spoiler

Other guilds demand tolls from those who travel through their territories, but not House Dimir. It takes its share secretly, one coin purse at a time. Dimir Cutpurse

Stealer of Secrets





Hidden Guildgate





Doppelganger of House Dimir

A system to direct the flow of Ravnica's entire water supply? Thinking a bit small, aren't we? Izzet Guildmage

Epic Experiments





Tower of Nivix, Guildhall





Ral Zarek, Legendary Izzet Guildmage

Civilization will subsume us unless we overwhelm it instead. Speaker Zegana

Elven Biomancer








Gate of Zameck, the Simic guildhall, inside the city's Tenth District





Simic Manipulator

 

[Idea]

Can I take izzet please?

Well, ince I wanted Izzet or Dimmir, I guess I`ll be going with Dimir.

 

[gogojojo331]

Intresting

 

[Bone2pick]

I'd like to get one or two more interested members before I draw up the roleplay. Also, after some late night inspiration, I'm considering going Golgari. I'm torn atm.

 

[SpiralErrant]

Well this is giving me some flashbacks to my teens.... and getting my Lorwyn deck's butt handed to me by Boros and Dimir decks 0_0 Since I haven't seen anyone take them yet I'd be interested in being a fight happy Boros warrior type if the spot is still open.

 

[Bone2pick]

@SpiralErrant A fine choice. (^.^)

Spoiler

Leaders shape the minds of their allies. It takes a master to shape the minds of enemies. Boros Battleshaper

The Standing Legions





Sunhome, Guild Fortress





Knight of Boros

 

[Bone2pick]

You're going to need to love rich fantasy lore for this roleplay. Two out of ten complete, I'll have the rest finished at launch.

• Azorius
• Boros
• Dimir
• Golgari
• Gruul
• Izzet
• Orzhov
• Rakdos
• Selesnya
• Simic

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  Selesnya thinks nature is a pretty plaything. True nature would rip their faces off and wear their skins as trophies. Disciple of the Old Ways

  
  
  The Gruul are a loose affiliation of savage clans that squat in Ravnica's alleyways, abandoned zones, and ruins. Many of the Gruul clans have come to occupy the Rubblebelt, a broken thread of war-ruined land and settlements that begins near the outskirts of Ravnica's Tenth District. Warfare among the Gruul is constant and almost ritualistic; the Gruul believe that only the strong should survive and rule. The Gruul are the most disenfranchised and hold the most anti-civilization views of all of Ravnica's guilds, and as such are the most ill at ease in a world covered by city.
  
  
  The Old Ways. In the time before the guilds of Ravnica were formed, the Gruul were a collection of druids and shamans who celebrated and claimed the wilds of the plane. Obviously, the Gruul failed at this task. Some sages surmise that it was the moment when a Gruul shaman saw the last towering druid-tree fall, and the last sacred grove was dug out for a stone quarry, that the spark of outrage was kindled. That spark became an all-consuming need to take vengeance on civilization and those who worked for "progress."
  
  
  In this current age, most Gruul clans simply live by the rule that "the strong survive, the strongest rule," but there is still a small spark of the old ways left in certain Gruul clans. The Zhur-Taa believe that the quakes that rumble across the Rubblebelt are a sign that the gods of the deep earth are awakening and preparing to rise up and destroy the "cobble roaches." The Zhur-Taa believe that the first sign of this apocalypse will be the coming of Ilharg, the boar-god.
  
  
  Rauck-Chauv: anarch's "holiday." The Gruul observe few consistent traditions but love to celebrate Rauck-Chauv, an irregular, calendar-mocking festival characterized by several days of rioting, feasting, looting, and destruction. Scholars note that Rauck-Chauv honors the principles of the Gruul's anti-intellectualism, having its roots in an ancient druidic promise to root out the artifice that underpins the unnatural institutions of city life, but the Gruul just revel in the excuse to smash things.
  
  
  
  
  
  Rubblebelt Raiders
  
  
  The Gruul Clans. New clans occasionally form under ambitious Gruul warlords, and meanwhile other clans are occasionally challenged, defeated, and wiped out. These six, though, have existed stably for some time.
  
  
  • The Burning Tree clan, led by Borborygmos, is the most fearsome and powerful. This clan is also the largest and most diverse, having branches in several districts of Ravnica. The fear and awe inspired by Borborygmos himself allows this clan to keep a strong reign over diverse and geographically separated members. The symbol of the Burning Tree clan has come to be regarded by the Ravnican populace as the symbol for the entire Gruul guild.
    
  • The leader of the Ghor clan, Ruric Thar, is a two-headed ogre who rules his clan with barbaric cruelty. He also claims to be the only Gruul warrior to face Borborygmos himself and live, although one of his heads is hideously deformed as a result of the battle. Of all the clans, the Ghor execute the most frequent and savage assaults on Ravnican citizenry. The clan typically creates encampments close to heavily populated Ravnican districts. Ruric Thar likes to terrify the "cobble roaches," as he calls them, with the boisterous, blood-gurgling sounds of his clan's chaotic assaults.
    
  • The Scab clan is made up of a variety of races, including minotaurs, centaurs, ogres, and goblins. They are easily distinguished by their beastly looking scars and body mutilations. Scab clan warriors despise pretentiousness and false airs. They believe that the body is the outward form of the spirit, and that the more maimed the appearance, the more authentic the warrior. The Scab have engulfed or destroyed several clans in recent years, but the leader of the clan, a corpulent giant known as Narbulg Nine Fingers, has not yet deigned to challenge Borborygmos or the Burning Tree.
    
  
  
  
  
  
  Scab-Clan Giant
  
  
  
  
  
  • The Bolrac clan is made up of large lumbering brutes, primarily cyclopes, ogres, trolls, and giants. The clan's leadership changes almost daily, since brutal battles for supremacy are as common as meals. The word "bolrac" is an old Ravnican word meaning "heavy hammers," and the Bolrac specialize in bringing down massive structures using mauls and battering rams. The only thing the Bolrac love more than destroying something smaller than them is toppling, crumbling, and then destroying something that was once larger.
    
  • The Slizt clan is a clutch of sly, stealthy, mostly viashino warriors, although they have been known to accept the odd "pinkskin" (human). This clan has survived in the Rubblebelt by using three tactics: stealth, high ground, and ranged attacks. The Slizt settle in the highest portions of ruins and ambush foes with a flurry of arrows from above. Other Gruul clans regard the Slizt as skulkers and cowards, but all are cautious when entering areas with elevated ruins. The home ground of the Slizt clan is The Husk, an area at the center of the Rubblebelt that has many large and ancient structures that have somehow remained standing for many generations.
    
  • The Zhur-Taa clan, also known as the "skull bleachers," is the only Gruul clan that claims to follow "the old ways." The Zhur-Taa are very close to their beasts; their shamans are adept at summoning and training beasts for war-companions and mounts. The Zhur-Taa worship the Utmungr, "gods of the deep earth," and await the awakening of an ancient boar god who will mount a fiery rampage and raze the over-civilized world once and for all. The Zhur-Taa stack large piles of skulls, humanoid and animal alike, as offerings to these believed gods. Their Zhur-Taa leader, Nikya of the Old Ways, is a powerful shaman who, it is said, can summon massive vines from the ancient layers of Ravnica's crust.
    
  
  
  Borborygmos, the Clan Alpha. Although no Gruul clan leader has ever managed to dominate or unify all the clans, one Gruul clan leader is spoken of in reverential tones: Borborygmos. An unusually massive cyclops and the savage leader of the Burning Tree clan, Borborygmos "smashes his enemies into paste, then uses that paste to polish his boots," as the saying goes. Borborygmos has defended his position as the Gruul's mightiest clan leader for several decades now and has killed many upstarts. But although he's still an extraordinary warrior, Borborygmos is beginning to show his age. The challenges to his leadership have become more frequent and his victories more narrow.
  
  
  
  Locations

  
  
  
  Skarrg: the reunion turf. In the gutted, cratered remains of a massive palace, a great bonfire burns, marking a place of tradition for the Gruul. Skarrg is not exactly neutral ground for the Gruul clans, as no truce is called and old grudges tend to lead quickly to bloody combat. But Gruul clans periodically converge on Skarrg from every corner of Ravnica. Giant boars are roasted and great battles are fought, and here the Gruul find something akin to camaraderie.
  
  
  
  
  
  Gate to Skarrg Guildhall
  
  
  The Rubblebelt. Every district has its share of Gruul squatters and street toughs. But many Gruul guild members inhabit a discontinuous archipelago of wasteland zones outside of the Tenth District. The Rubblebelt is a mass of gutted buildings; transitory shantytowns; and strange, roaming, ruin elementals. "The Belt" is surrounded on all sides by more civilized areas; other guilds often attempt to encroach on this area and try to reclaim it for their own uses, generating endless conflict with the civilization-spurning Gruul.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  Civilization will subsume us unless we overwhelm it instead. Speaker Zegana

  
  
  The Simic Combine is Ravnica's steward of nature and the wild; its mission is to preserve the natural world even as Ravnica's cities continue to grow. The guild seeks to protect the elements of the plane that are incompatible or mutually exclusive with its overpopulated, urban conditions. This is not easy, of course, because the forces of civilization are so prevalent on Ravnica that they threaten to subsume anything that runs counter to them. But the Simic practice a strange combination of detachment and holism that provide a kind of separation from the larger urban systems—a separation on which their conservation mission depends.
  
  
  
  
  
  Elven Biomancer
  
  
  Simic Guild Structure
  
  
  Zonots. A zonot is a huge sinkhole that leads all the way down to the Ravnican oceans, and each serves as a distinct Simic habitat—sort of an oversized, inverted skyscraper. Each zonot has a different culture, ecosystem, and racial distribution, as well as a speaker.
  
  
  • Zonot One. The first to open, Zonot One appeared in a remote area far away from the Tenth District. This is Speaker Zegana's home zonot, although she spends most of her time in Zonot Seven, where the Simic main guildhall is located. Zonot One is the smallest zonot and has a somewhat somber feeling compared to others.
    
  • Zonot Four. The largest of the zonots has the marine troll Trifon as its speaker. The culture here is more brutal and direct than elsewhere, and the residents are larger on average, too.
    
  • Zonot Five. The Simic tend to be insular, but this zonot has become a tourist destination—a place where the guildless can come to see the ocean as well as to observe Simic life. Rather than discourage this, the Simic created the Helical Stair here to draw more visitors.
    
  • Zonot Seven. The only zonot inside the boundaries of the Tenth District, Zonot Seven is home to the guildhall, the Zameck. As one would expect, this is the busiest and most densely populated zonot.
    
  
  
  Clades. Simic guild members are organized by clade rather than by species, role, or caste. Each clade is the natural-world equivalent of a project team: diverse individuals adapted to different tasks, yet related by a common goal. Clades often exist solely within a single zonot, but they need not do so, and large clades span two or more Simic communities. Some of the clades include:
  
  
  • Hull Clade. This clade's focus is on protection, defense, durability, and the like. Its projects range from the strengthening of exoskeletons to the stabilization of zonot walls.
    
  • Fin Clade. The study of movement is this clade's focus—both literal movement of creatures (especially flying creatures) as well as, for example, movement of resources through systems.
    
  • Crypsis Clade. This secretive clade develops strategies for obscuring other guilds' views of the Simic. This includes literal camouflage as well as magic designed to hide knowledge or operations.
    
  • Gyre Clade. Cyclical patterns and metamagic are this clade's specialization. Projects include finding ways to redirect or nullify magic and advancing nature.
    
  
  
  The Holdfast Principle. A holdfast is a biological structure that kelp and sponges grow on to anchor themselves to rocks or other objects on the sea floor too heavy for currents to move. In the Simic context, this structure has inspired a philosophical dogma that advises guild members never to stray so far from nature that they become "adrift"—a veiled warning against the excesses and ambitions of the guild's previous iteration. The Simic guild rank and file tends to stay close to their zonots for this reason, and Simic forays into city life are generally shorter than those of other guilds. The zonots themselves are sort of huge columns of sea grass or kelp in negative space, and the ocean far below is the object to which they are "anchored."
  
  
  The Upwelling. The Holdfast Principle doesn't mean the Simic are isolated or xenophobic, however. The opposing idea, stronger in Simic culture, is that of the Upwelling. In science, upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon in which nutrient-rich water moves toward the surface, replacing depleted water. For the Simic, this is a spiritual concept that bridges disciplines and pursuits. The return of the deep creatures to the surface, the birth of ever-larger organisms, the pursuit of natural science and understandings, the slow addition of new zonots... all are upwellings. The new and enlivened replace the old and depleted, and that replacement is cyclical.
  
  
  
  
  
  Simic Manipulator
  
  
  Speaker Zegana. The regal and reticent merfolk woman named Zegana is the current guildmaster of the Simic Combine. She is the speaker for Zonot One, the first to emerge on Ravnica, and she delivered the Fathom Edict that declared a new beginning for the Combine. Zegana is quick to point out, however, that she speaks at the discretion of the Speakers' Chamber, a secretive body of all nine of the zonots' speakers. She claims that the Chamber can revoke that status, at which time another speaker would replace her as the guildmaster. Many outside the Simic believe this is false modesty, however, and that Zegana controls the Chamber—if it meets at all.
  
  
  
  Locations

  
  
  
  Zameck. The Simic guildhall is not a particularly ceremonial or celebratory place. In Zonot Seven, a huge chamber just below the surface has been cleared of debris and serves as the gathering place for all the speakers, as well as a place where non-Simic visitors can meet with Zegana or other Combine emissaries. The roof contains many openings to the sky covered over with plax to create opalescent skylights, which makes the chamber seem almost as though it's underwater. Thick cords of kelp buttress the walls of the huge chamber, and algae cakes the corners and edges of walls and floors. But the main chamber floor is clear, with the exception of a large table in the shape of a loose spiral, with a slightly elevated podium at its center.
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  Gate of Zameck
  
  
  The Helical Stair. At Zonot Five, an enormous column of marine plant matter has been coaxed by magic to grow steadily up the walls of the zonot in a gentle spiral. Stairs have been carved in the spiral (and de-slimed), forming a long path by which surface dwellers can walk down to sea level. This is a Simic outreach to the people of Ravnica—a place where its denizens can see, touch, step into, and even swim through the cold oceans they forgot millennia ago.
  
  
  Jezeru, the Lake District. In recent years, the sentient among the Simic have collectively realized that they risk over-isolation in their zonots. In an effort to increase relevance and visibility, the Simic have made conscious efforts to bring their guild aboveground. The most dramatic example of these efforts is Jezeru, an entire district that now lies underwater. The water is only several feet deep in most of this shallow, natural valley area, although at its deepest it reaches forty feet or so. Terrestrial creatures can navigate the district via flying Simic "ferry" creatures as well as by stone walkways kept afloat by oversized pneumatocyst growths.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

 

[Lux___Wolf]

I don't mind taking either Orzhov or Golgari.

 

[duck55223]

If this is still a thing, I am interested.

 

[Bone2pick]

It's very much still a thing. There's quite a bit of work to finish up before I can kick this off, but I hope this interest check continues to drum up potential players.